BEFORE YOU BEGIN
This Earth Cache was placed with permission from the adjacent landowner. The landowner (Mr. Lowell Chambers) is a Board Member for our local trails organization and he has graciously allowed open access to this natural feature, via his property. You can also access this area from River Front Road (across the river), however, you will need to get your feet wet to do so! Mr. Chambers allows the general public access to this area year-round so there may be trash/debris lying around so please practice “Cache In, Trash Out” when claiming your smiley!
ABOUT THE CACHE
This granite outcrop is located along the Yellow River in Porterdale, GA. This area has been referred to as “The Rockhouse”, by the locals, since I can remember!
Granite outcrops weather in characteristic patterns and provide unusual habitats where a unique set of plants and animals have adapted. It is estimated that more than 90 percent of the approximately 12,000 acres of exposed granite in the Southeast is located in Georgia, including Stone Mountain, the largest of the Piedmont outcrops.
Granite itself is usually very heterogeneous in its mineral composition and texture. Often neighboring outcrops that would appear to have developed as parts of the same rock actually occur on distinctly different types of rock intrusions. For example, Stone Mountain, Panola Mountain, and Arabia Mountain all occur within about fifteen miles of each other, east and southeast of Atlanta. Yet each represents a distinct and separate type of granite: Stone Mountain granite, Panola granite, and Arabia Mountain gneiss, respectively.
The mineral composition and texture of various rock units may have their greatest significance as evidence of weathering patterns that produce distinctive rock outcrop habitats. The rock surface is commonly subject to exfoliation, with "shells" of rock sloughing away to create crevices and talus piles at the base. Uneven weathering of the rock surface results in shallow depressions, called weathering or solution pits. It is in these depressions that the most distinctive granite-outcrop plants and animals occur.
Rock-rimmed pits that are deep enough to hold rainwater harbor a number of rare aquatic plants. Other depressions, which have accumulated a thin layer of soil and which lack a complete rim to retain water, support many unusual annual plants. Other distinctive habitats on the outcrops include deeper accumulations of soil over bare granite, seepage areas created by the slow discharge of water from patches of forest on the rocks, and the edges of nearby forests. This excerpt was taken from an article at www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/geography-environment/granite-outcrops
In order to claim this smiley, please visit the following locations (all in the immediate area) and answer the question for each set of coordinates:
1) At N 33° 34.071, W 083° 53.576, there is a vertical vein of quartz that extends from the bottom of the rock, all the way to the top. Standing at the base of the rock, approximately how wide is this vein of quartz at head-height?
2) At N 33° 34.063, W 083° 53.545, there are two horizontal veins of quartz underneath the rock ledge, what color are the veins and approximately how wide is the top one?
3) At N 33° 34.067, W 083° 53.537, you will be standing on a large flat rock in the river. You will notice something very obvious about the eastern side of the rock. What force of nature do you think caused this?
(Optional) Include a picture, in your log, of yourself somewhere among the rock formations!
Please send your answers via email or through the new message system, using my profile!
CONGRATS TO HDATHA ON FTF!
